"The Prize Comedy" is proclaimed at last. Quid pro Quo,
or the Day of Dupes, is its smart and significant title; and the author is said to be " a lady not unknown to literary fame "—perhaps Mrs GORE. It is remarkable that out of ninety-eight competitors a lady should have carried off the prize. That the Committee have decided to the best of their judgment, and been as impartial as unanimous, we make no doubt: they seem to have spared no trouble, having had twenty meet- ings, at which they compared notes, and discussed the merits of the several productions. The prize comedy will of course be brought out with all speed : its success on the stage will determine the extent of the "contingent advantages" promised by Mr. WEBSTER in addition to the premium of 500/. Meanwhile, the Haymarket is filled by revivals and trivial novelties. The Follies of a Night, a lively adaptation by PLANcHE of a French vaudeville, IA ed for a few nights at Covent Garden, has proved quite a hit at the Ha, market. Madame VEsTRIS as a Princess broken out of bounds, .STRICILLAND as the old Doctor responsible for her safety, and Mr. C. MATHEWS as the rustic adventurer who carries her off, are all in their element, and highly amusing. The Absentee is an anomaly—a sentimental farce, in which MISS JULIA BENNETT reads a lesson of patriotism to her errant lover, whom she reclaims, by a disguise and a ditty, from the sin of "Irish absenteeism." A Cure for the Heart-ache was never more welcome than now, it would seem, by the success of the abridgment of MORTON'S comedy. FARREN as Old Rapid is the picture of a warm tradesman of the old school; and C. MATHEWS as Young Rapid has the mercurial restlessness and polish of quicksilver. The scene where the father and son are detected in the act of mending a coat, by the purse-proud Nabob and his stately sister—well played by M's. W. CLIFFORD and STRICKLAND—told immensely ; and WEB- STER'S Frank Outlands is capital.
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